Christmas Wonder

On Friday, we shopped in St. Louis and on Saturday we journeyed to our favorite Christmas Spot…St. Charles, Missouri.

As we were in the St. Louis Galleria…enjoying our Holiday Revelry…there began a protest…and it was loud and disconcerting.

As I began texting Mary Jane and Aaron and Jonathon as to where they were and if they were alright…I noticed that the stores were shuttering their doors almost in sequence with my passing each of them.

A protest is frightening and loud and off-putting…and it comes from serious and long term civil and racial unrest.

A protest is not like watching it on television…when you are there and see and hear the protestors screaming in unison to ‘Shut it Down’…and you see the police in groups…trepidatious and cautious and armed and with many plastic handcuffs.

And, you witness the shoppers…both African American and White…fearful and moving towards the exits as you sit by one of the managers in Nordstrom’s who is on pins and needles as is his colleague, who is African American, and you wonder if this Action is going to solve the racial and civil and human unrest that exists in this Country?

Saturday, yesterday, was…Dickens and Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim and Carolers and Santa Claus’s from all over the world.

We stopped in Jansen’s Clocks…which seems like family…as we have been shopping there for almost 20 years. The Barrett family is a wonderful family.

We visited Main-street Books which is an outstanding independent Bookstore.

One thing that was apparent to me over Black Friday and Small Business Saturday is that there is a chasm of racial and political and human family divide…splitting the residents of our Country…and it is painful and it should be unnecessary and it is uncomfortable for Black and White Americans…and it was uncomfortable for me.

We all want to sing Christmas Carols and feel a part of this great country and rejoice in the gift of Christ to the Human Family…but there is a great and loud voice of discontent and loneliness and sadness and a history of abuse and shame and being excluded and marginalized and not being heard….that suggests we need to reassess and renew our dedication to ‘All Men are Created Equal’…and not just some of us!

‘For unto us a child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the Increase of His government and peace There will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom. To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV